Righteousness and Relationships

Matthew 5:21-26

July 14, 2002

 

Relationships matter. In an era that find so many relationships shattered by anger, immorality, greed, selfishness, and revenge, the call upon kingdom citizens to prize relationships by lives of righteousness is nothing short of radical. As a matter of fact, it is simply Christian to live in right relationship to one another.

 

But there's confusion on how that's done. Scribes and Pharisees in our Lord's day would have said to just follow the second table of the Law - honor your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet. And frankly, we cannot argue with that wise counsel. The problem comes, however, in how these commands are interpreted and applied. It is precisely at this point that we find Jesus' explanation of how the Law is to be interpreted and applied for kingdom citizens. He did not come to abolish but to fulfill the law - to bring it into its fullest revelation. That is why Jesus calls for a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

 

What will the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees look like? Jesus declared that without a righteousness exceeding that of the chief religious leaders of ancient Israel, a person couldn't be a kingdom citizen (Matt 5:20). This passage is at once troubling and challenging. If one looks to himself for merit before God, then Jesus has delivered a deathblow - for there is no way that we can achieve an external righteousness exceeding the scribes and Pharisees. On the other hand, if we are already kingdom citizens, then our Lord's words offer a challenge that motivates us to live radically unto God's glory in this fallen world.

 

Within the framework of six Old Testament commandments, Jesus shows that kingdom citizens are not simply concerned with external appearances. The scribes and Pharisees were. They were content with a superficial approach to obedience that presented a wonderfully righteous fa�ade without care to developing inward character and holiness. Consequently, in the proving ground of relationships they failed the test of kingdom citizenship.

 

The kind of righteousness of which Jesus spoke refers to the practical, moral outworking of character transformed by submission to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Righteousness is the result of not the means of a right relationship to God through faith in Christ. Righteousness is inevitably joined to relationships, for it is within the sphere of relationships that the practical, moral outworking of Christian character is evident. Relationships test our righteousness. They are the proving ground for kingdom citizens. That is why Jesus made the clear point connecting relationships with spiritual reality: "By this all men will know that you are My disciples [spiritual reality], if you have love for one another" [relationships] (John 13:35).

 

But the scribes and Pharisees would have objected to the divine criteria for kingdom citizens, just as do many of their modern religious counterparts. As long as the outside of the cup looked clean, then that was sufficient. Like elaborate tombs that give a show of beauty but inwardly are "full of dead men's bones," even so those that are content with external conformity to certain moral commands without radical reorientation of the whole inward life set upon holiness, know nothing of kingdom citizenship (Matt 23:25-28).

 

Jesus begins with the most basic command, "You shall not commit murder." The early religious leaders thought of this only in terms of clear-cut homicide. If there was no blood, then everything was okay. But Jesus shows that it means much more - that it calls for dealing with anger, which is the root of murder. Kingdom citizens will prize their relationships with one another, demonstrating this by dealing with anger. Do you honor the relationships God has entrusted to you by dealing with anger in your own life?

 

I. Righteousness in precept 

 

At the heart of this section is Jesus' exposure of the common misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the Old Testament law. The Pharisees and scribes had no qualms with external compliance with the law. They were big on doing this themselves. But that is not the intent of the law - simply to tidy up a person's external appearance.

 

Jesus demonstrates that at the heart of the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder," was relationships (Ex 20:13). The extreme conflict in relationships ends with murder. But the intention - or the right interpretation according to Him in whom all authority resides - is to have right relationships with others. We will see that this is true with the other commandments addressed in the Sermon on the Mount as well.

 

The righteousness of the kingdom will be demonstrated in relationships. The value we place on living in right relationship with one another - particularly in the body of Christ - shows how much kingdom life has permeated our thoughts and ambitions.

 

1. Command as typically considered (v. 21) 

 

Most everyone knows the sixth commandment. Certainly the audience listening to our Lord's sermon was familiar with it. "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'" The "ancients" appears to be the original recipients of this command and those that followed. The point is that this was no new command. It had been around and known for ages. The latter clause is probably a rabbinic interpretation and application of the commandment. Jesus points out that it means more than what they had been hearing. In a non-literate society, the populace depended upon someone else's understanding of truth to inform them of what to believe. So the rabbis had quoted the sixth commandment and then given their interpretation. That was what the people believed simply because someone else told them to believe it. But they had missed it.

 

The reason this command and the correction of the rabbinic interpretation is so vital is the issue of the Imago Dei, the image of God in man. Since we are created in God's image we are to show respect to all men, and as much as is possible on our part, we are to be in a right relationship with all men. That is the positive side of "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER." Even with the reality of man's fall into sin marring the divine imagine in man, there remains the vestiges of the divine image. It is so much so that God requires that if one person takes the life of another in an act of murder then his own life is to be taken as an act of divine recompense. The two commands given to Noah and his family after the flood reflect this. On one hand they were to be fruitful and repopulate the earth. But the other spoke of murder as a capital offense: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed." He gives the reason for this as well, "For in the image of God He made man" (Gen 9:6-7). It is on the basis of the divine image that man is forbidden to murder his fellow man.

 

But the Pharisees and scribes would declare, 'Why I've never murdered anyone. I would never do such a horribly despicable act.' Yet the principle implied in the sixth commandment as interpreted by our Lord shows otherwise.

 

2. Principle explained by Jesus Christ (v. 22) 

 

The Pharisees, along with modern man might ask, "Exactly what does He mean by murder? Where do we draw the line?" My observation over the years is that man generally wants to know how closely he can get to the edge of sinning without feeling guilty rather than knowing how far away he can run from sin. That was the heart of the Pharisees and scribes. So Jesus gives an explanation of the sixth commandment that likely shocked all that heard it.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' [raca] shall be guilty before the supreme court [Sanhedrin]; and whoever says, 'You fool,' [mor�] shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell [Gehenna].


To begin with, Jesus is not giving stages or degrees leading to murder but showing the different manifestations of the same heart attitude. "Anger" may manifest itself in lashing out, verbally or physically attacking someone, or in vitriolic behavior. What we sometime call ranting and raving may be signs of anger. It may also be what has been termed passive-aggressive in which the angry person may not say anything ugly but treats the other person or persons with personal contempt. It may be the silent treatment or even manifest in what he does not say to another person when he should be commenting in a helpful, relational fashion.

 

"Anger" often shows up in a spousal relationship in which one spouse may demonstrate anger at the other by silence, non-involvement, lack of kindness and gentleness, disregard for showing tenderness and concern. It happens in parent-child relationships and even in work settings. The slow, seething of the angry person looks for ways to express animosity as much by what he does not do as by what he does.

 

"You good-for-nothing," or raca is Aramaic for a term meaning "empty-head" or what we may call without a sense of levity, "numb-skull," "blockhead," or "dingbat." I suppose that we could add dozens of other names that convey the same general idea. This views the other person as inferior - so obviously, pride is part of anger's root. It is a disdainful attitude verbally expressed in insults to another.

 

"You fool," (mor� in the Greek) conveys more of the contemptible idea, expressing sharp disapproval of another person, viewing him as carrying with him the baggage of moral corruption. John Stott points out that it translates a Hebrew word conveying, "a rebel, an apostate, or an outcast." It essentially is a verbal dooming of the person to hell [The Bible Speaks Today - Christian Counter-Culture, 84].

 

One scholar summed it up like this, "Raca expresses contempt for a man's head = you stupid! Mor� expresses contempt for his heart and character = you scoundrel" [A.B. Bruce, quoted by Leon Morris, The Gospel of Matthew, 115].

 

Jesus goes beyond shedding blood, as horrible as that is, to the root issue of murder - anger. The severity of each twist of anger is seen by the terms "guilty before the court...guilty before the supreme court...guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." Each conveys divine judgment upon this sin rather than merely human judgment. It culminates with "fiery hell," which translates the term Gehenna. The word derived from the garbage dump of Jerusalem that had once been the place where the infamous Molech cult burned their human sacrifices, and finally where Josiah destroyed the cultic worship by defiling Gehenna with the blood of its priests. It continued to be a garbage dump where the fire and smoke of burning waste littered the air. Early writers often used it as a picture of eternal judgment, just as Jesus does in this warning.

 

Such heart condition of anger, if continued without repentance, shows one to be without the righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees and scribes. It is a clear indication that such a person is not a kingdom citizen, and in peril of hell.

 

3. The principle contemplated 

 

Why do we get "angry" with others? It is true that there can be some constructive elements in certain types of anger. If we are angry at ourselves for undiscipline, for example, it motivates us to develop more rigorous habits of the mind. Anger has been a useful motivation in times of war so that the nation responded to an attack by mounting a massive triumph. Even Paul tells us to be angry and yet not sin, by which he means that we are to be angry against sin and injustice so that it motivates us to action (Eph 4:26). Even Jesus was angry with the moneychangers in the temple so that he wove a small whip and drove them out, demanding that they treat God's house with respect as a house of prayer for all the people.

 

But what we are considering is the destructive type of anger - the animosity, bitterness, rancorous spirit, inward boiling and seething, the deeply cynical attitude, and even hatred that characterize it. So why do we get "angry" with others? I think that has to be contemplated if we are to deal with it in our lives. I would suggest several ways that we become angry (and this is by no means exhaustive).

 

First, we get angry when someone directly wrongs or sins against us by some type of offense. They may speak unjustly, gossip about us, take actions to hurt us, impugn our character, or any number of other unjustifiable actions.

 

Second, we may become angry due to another person's neglect or what we perceive should be an appropriate attitude or action toward us. This happens often in marriages, families, and in other social relationships. It happens when someone fails to treat us with the level of respect or kindness or patience or deference that we believe to be appropriate for the relationship.

 

Third, we may become angry when someone tramples on our personal rights or treats us with disdain or acts as though we have no value or worth.

 

What emerges in any of these actions - unless we exercise self-control - is anger. It is the heart of the problem so that it manifests itself in retaliation against perceived wrongs with seething attitudes, cruel and harsh comments, demeaning words [raca], and even by disdaining the character of the other by insults that are calculated to malign the other person's worth [mor�]. "We treat the damage we do with our lips very lightly," writes Sinclair Ferguson, "because we do not see the corpses we leave behind" [The Sermon on the Mount, 83]. Ultimately, anger may even manifest itself by physical action that leads to murder. Don Carson warns us, "One has not conformed to the better righteousness of the kingdom simply by refraining from homicide" [The Gospel of Matthew--EBC 148].

 

"Anger and insult are ugly symptoms of a desire o get rid of somebody who stands in our way," comments Stott [85]. Have you considered just how perverse anger really is as it lurks beneath the quiet exterior of our lives like a shark just below the surface? It circles its prey, looking for the chance to strike. It is ruthless, heartless, full of cruelty, and must be dealt with without delay.

 

II. Righteousness in practice 

 

What Jesus has to say about anger and the sin of relationships because of anger, is not in the realm of the theoretical but the practical. He succinctly pinpoints the problem and then leaves us with two exhortations in the form of illustrations. First he shows the necessity of considering others, and then the urgency of resolving conflicts.

 

1. Necessity of considering others (vv. 23-24) 

 

"What we are before God involves how we are related to others" [Ferguson, 84]. Therefore, when it comes to worship, it is not that Jesus is de-emphasizing our relationship to God. But he is showing that the relationship that we have with others reflects the Godward dimension of our lives. "Therefore," connects the illustration with the explanation of the root problem of anger in relationships. "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."

 

The typical way that we deal with a troubling, pesky sin against someone else is to cover it over by some good deed or practice. So in verse 23, Jesus points this out with the illustration on worship. The tables turn from the initial precept of dealing with one's anger to dealing with the relational sin - presumably caused by anger - in which we have been the cause of someone else's anger or resentment or bitterness. The one that caused it may have justified his actions. Or at minimum, he convinced himself that it was the other person's problem. He busies himself by taking positive action. He goes to worship, taking his offering with him - in this case likely an animal sacrifice or grain offering. But as he seeks to draw near to God in the vertical relationship, he remembers the brother that has something against him. A mental battle rages, and he begins to question. Does he go through the act of worship and try to ignore the tugging conviction of the Holy Spirit? Or does he leave his gift, head to the offended brother, and then be about the act of worship?

 

I certainly don't think at all that this suggests that every little grievance is a cause to run to this person and that person. But when a brother has "a legitimate complaint against the worshiper," as Leon Morris points out [115], he must take action toward reconciliation. I realize that there is always a danger in even bringing such a thing up. Some of you have unusually sensitive spirits and you will mull over in your mind whether or not you have caused an offense toward another. Others of you can let things roll off you like water off of a duck's back. The thing to do is to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. He does not condemn - He convicts with an aim toward righteousness. There is liberation in following His prompting.

 

The three commands of verse 24 imply a necessity on the part of the believer to take action. First, "leave our offering there before the altar." The worship can wait until the repentance and reconciliation take place. Second, "and go," that is, leave the place of worship to find the place of reconciliation with your brother. The verb tense shifts, suggesting an intense effort. Then, "be reconciled to your brother." The term "denotes mutual concession after mutual hostility" [Rienecker, Linguistic Key to the Greek New Testament, 14]. You do what you can to humble yourself, address the problem, bear the responsibility, confess the sin, and seek to restore the relationship with your brother. The point we must not gloss over is that relationships matter just that much, so that the humility and the agony of seeking reconciliation are worth the effort.

 

The text does not address it, but what if the other person refuses reconciliation? Then you do your part in making it happen. Give it sufficient effort. If the brother refuses, then commend the relationship to God and press on, always being ready to reconcile if the barriers are removed. As Paul tells us, "If possible, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men" (Rom 12:18).

 

2. Urgency of resolving conflicts (vv. 25-26) 

 

The next illustration adds to the necessity of considering others that of urgency in resolving conflicts that have been caused by one's own anger or bitterness. "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison." I do not believe that the intention of our Lord was to give a manual for legal issues, though there is certainly application for it. Instead, he uses another illustration to press upon his hearers the urgency of dealing with unresolved conflicts in their relationships, especially those caused by anger.

 

Throwing someone into a "debtors prison" was common practice in that era. Though the debtor had no way of earning the money he needed to remedy the debt while in prison, it was generally hoped that his family and friends would show pity on him and pay the debt. It was a cruel way of treating people but it appeared to work to the victim's advantage. Some of those listening might very well have been in that predicament.

 

Our Lord uses this scene to press the urgency of reconciliation upon us. Like the previous illustration, He looks at the flip side of the story as the believer himself has wronged the other person by his anger, and now urgently pursues a course of reconciliation. The seriousness of it is seen by the last sentence, "Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent."

 

Urgency is needed for two reasons. First, God's glory and the believer's testimony - both individually and corporately - are at stake. Lingering at dealing with a fractured relationship gives the adversary more room to harden hearts around you.

 

Second, delaying an urgent response tends to add calluses to the relationship. Just like a raw spot on the heel that is left unattended creates more wounds and callused tissue, even so neglecting the urgency of resolving conflicts in relationships tends to toughen the resolve of the offended party against reconciliation.

 

Sinclair Ferguson is correct, "Animosity is a time bomb; we do not know when it will 'go off.' We must deal with it quickly, before the consequences of our bitterness get completely out of control" [85].

 

Conclusion

 

"Jesus is not telling us to "hang out our dirty linen in public," but to deal urgently and fully with all breakdowns in fellowship before they lead to spiritual assassination" [Ferguson 86]. Is your anger under control or controlling you? Maybe there are some relationships that you need to tend to before the day is over. For the sake of Christ and the gospel, be urgent in taking action to resolve conflict as much as is possible within you. It is within the framework of our relationships that our kingdom citizenship is best demonstrated. Let us take that citizenship so seriously that we heed the urgency of this text to reconcile with those whom we have wronged.

 

For those enslaved to anger, Jesus Christ's death and resurrection have secured your forgiveness and liberates you to live in right relationship to God and man, if indeed you will repent and trust in Him.

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